Spotlight on Earth Science Symposium: An Overview

On September 18-19, 2006, James Madison University (JMU) hosted a one and half day symposium entitled, “Spotlight on Earth Science,” highlighting current resources and technology available for earth science teachers, and invited teachers to share effective practices learned in their program coursework through the two Mathematics and Science Partnerships (MSP) funded by the Virginia Department of Education. The symposium supported a pooling of expertise among participants to initiate the definition and resolution of the persistent issues in earth science education in Virginia. A total of ninety-six teachers, university faculty, curriculum supervisors, policymakers, and business/government/industrial representatives participated. Three themes were addressed: 1) Best Practices in Earth Science Teaching, 2) Curricular and Assessment Issues in Earth Science, and 3) Earth Science Teacher Education. The two MSP projects, Virginia Earth Science Collaborative (VESC) and Innovative Teachers in Earth Science in Tidewater (ITEST), addressed only one aspect of the earth science issues in Virginia: the shortage of qualified earth science teachers. Building on the successes of these projects and the symposium, the Virginia Mathematics and Science Coalition commissioned a task force to explore the problems and potential solutions raised by participants in symposium. Future anticipated outcomes include the development of graduate programs in geoscience education and engagement in funded projects in geoscience education to suit the needs of students, teachers, and school divisions

Meteorology and Cimatology: On-Line Weather Studies

Through the Virginia Earth Science Collaborative (VESC), a partnership of nine institutes of higher education, non-profit organizations, and eighty-three school divisions, a 3-credit, graduate-level meteorology course was offered six times between Spring 2006 and Fall 2007. The course, entitled Meteorology, was offered at three locations (Richmond, Abingdon, and Harrisonburg), and a local instructor facilitated each section. Funding for the course development, instructor stipends, and participant expenses (including travel, meals, and tuition) was provided through a competitive Mathematics and Science Partnership (MSP) grant funded through the federal No Child Left Behind legislation of 2001. The framework of the course was the American Meteorological Society\u27s Online Weather Studies program, which provides meteorological content and laboratory investigations, and relies heavily on the use of Internet-accessed, real-time weather data to teach meteorological topics in a distance learning format. The 115 teacher participants were required to complete text readings and written assignments, conduct laboratory investigations, design projects using real—time meteorological data, complete exams, and attend three face-to-face meetings. For the purpose of the VESC grant evaluation, pre-test and post-test data were collected on 110 of the participants which indicated an average 14.7% increase in participants‘ content knowledge and use of real-time meteorological products (weather maps, satellite images, station models, etc.) in their instructional delivery

Newspaper Reporter’s Confidential Sources of Information—Are They Constitutionally Protected?

Garland v. Torre, 259 F.2d 545 (2d Cir. 1958)

Modelling the spring ozone maximum and the interhemispheric asymmetry in the remote marine boundary layer 1. Comparison with surface and ozonesonde measurements

Here we report a modelling study of the spring ozone maximum and its interhemispheric asymmetry in the remote marine boundary layer (MBL). The modelled results are examined at the surface and on a series of time-height cross sections at several locations spread over the Atlantic, the Indian, and the Pacific Oceans. Comparison of model with surface measurements at remote MBL stations indicate a close agreement. The most striking feature of the hemispheric spring ozone maximum in the MBL can be most easily identified at the NH sites of Westman Island, Bermuda, and Mauna Loa, and at the SH site of Samoa. Modelled ozone vertical distributions in the troposphere are compared with ozone profiles. For the Atlantic and the Indian sites, the model generally produces a hemispheric spring ozone maximum close to those of the measurements. The model also produces a spring ozone maximum in the northeastern and tropical north Pacific close to those measurements, and at sites in the NH high latitudes. The good agreement between model and measurements indicate that the model can reproduce the proposed mechanisms responsible for producing the spring ozone maximum in these regions of the MBL, lending confidence in the use of the model to investigate MBL ozone chemistry (see part 2 and part 3). The spring ozone maximum in the tropical central south Pacific and eastern equatorial Pacific are less well reproduced by the model, indicating that both the transport of $O_3$ precursors from biomass burning emissions taking place in southeastern Asia, Australia, Oceania, southern Africa, and South America are not well represented in the model in these regions. Overall, the model produces a better simulation at sites where the stratosphere and biomass burning emissions are the major contributors.Comment: 24 pages, 8 figure

Low-frequency noise reduction of spacecraft structures

Low frequency noise reduction of spacecraft structure

Stability of Cysteine Solutions

The stability of cysteine in acid solution increased with increase in acidity (0.1 to 6N HC 1). When the solutions were made in conductivity water and stored under nitrogen, less than 1 per cent of the cysteine was oxidixed in 7 days

Heuristics for communicating science, risk, and crisis

Scientific information about physical hazards is important and very easy to miscommunicate. Because science uses complex wording and sophisticated reasoning, many assume that sharing science with lay stakeholders is solely a matter of substituting simple words and sentences for unfamiliar terms and complex syntax. An additional frequent assumption is that ‘giving information’ or ‘educating’ are the only important goals when communicating with stakeholders about health and the environment. Indeed, one study shows that, among scientists who share science online with lay stakeholders, their principal goals when communicating with lay audiences are to ‘educate’ or ‘defend science’. Although these goals are important, their exclusive pursuit may squelch chances for productive dialogue and engagement. We suggest ‘heuristics’ or sets of questions to guide inquiry in science, risk, or crisis communication situations and to alert communicators to many rhetorical challenges and options for addressing them in a variety of contexts. The chapter offers an array of theory- and evidence-backed heuristics and illustrates their use in communicating science, risk, and crisis

From villains to victims: experiencing illness in Siberian exile

This essay presents the subjective experience of life and sickness for the punished in late Imperial Siberia, and the distinctions the punished made between legitimate and illegitimate forms of punishment. The essay also explores state policies towards the sick punished, and explores how different levels of the Tsarist administration and local Siberian society dealt with the challenge of sick and decrepit exiles. It argues that conditions in Siberian prisons were, in general, worse than those in European Russian prisons in the post-1906 period, and that the experience of exile in eastern Siberia placed it among the most difficult locations for exile. Though neither the state nor the punished regarded illness as an integral part of their punishment, the prevalence of illness and disease compounded the cruelty of sentences

Microbial Characterization of Internal Active Thermal Control System (IATCS) Hardware Surfaces after Five Years of Operation in the International Space Station

A flex hose assembly containing aqueous coolant from the International Space Station (ISS) Internal Active Thermal Control System (IATCS) consisting of a 2 foot section of Teflon hose and quick disconnects (QDs) and a Special Performance Checkout Unit (SPCU) heat exchanger containing separate channels of IATCS coolant and iodinated water used to cool spacesuits and Extravehicular Mobility Units (EMUS) were returned for destructive analyses on Shuttle return to flight mission STS-114. The original aqueous IATCS coolant used in Node 1, the Laboratory Module, and the Airlock consisted of water, borate (pH buffer), phosphate (corrosion control), and silver sulfate (microbiological control) at a pH of 9.5 +/- 0.5. Chemical changes occurred after on-orbit implementation including a decrease to pH 8.4 due to the diffusion of carbon dioxide through the Teflon hoses, an increase in nickel ions due to general corrosion of heat exchanger braze coatings, a decrease in phosphate concentration due to precipitation of nickel phosphate, and the rapid disappearance of silver ions due to deposition on hardware surfaces. Also associated with the coolant chemistry changes was an increase in planktonic microorganisms from less than 100 colony forming units (CFU) per 100 ml to approximately 1 million CFU per 100 ml. Attachment and growth of microorganisms to the system surfaces (biofilm) was suspected due to the levels of planktonic microorganisms in the coolant. Biofilms can reduce coolant flow, reduce heat transfer, amplify degradation of system materials initiated by chemical corrosion, and enhance mineral scale formation